10 Peanuts Comics That Prove Snoopy Really Is the World's Smartest Dog

From the World Famous Golf Pro to the World Famous Orthopedic Surgeon, Snoopy really loves to imagine himself as a World Famous anything in Peanuts. One of Snoopy's most well known and popular World Famous personas is his World Famous Author persona. Seen writing on his typewriter on the roof of his doghouse, Snoopy's World Famous Author Persona would go on to star in countless comic strips.

Further, Snoopy often enlists the help of the Peanuts gang to read over his stories. Two of Snoopy's most frequent readers and critics of his work include Lucy and Linus. The Van Pelt siblings are always eager to give Snoopy their two cents about his work, even if Snoopy is not too keen to hear criticism. Snoopy's writings are just as varied as his personas, with the dog writing about just about everything.

10 "It Was a Dark And Stormy Night"

July 12th, 1965

In the first comic strip that shows Snoopy beginning to write, he brings his typewriter to his doghouse, which would go on to be his writing spot of choice.Likewise, Snoopy starts off his very first story with what would become a recurrent line in the majority of his writings: "It was a dark and stormy night." Thanks to this mid '60s comic strip, Snoopy's writing would go on to become a recurring Peanuts gag.

Likewise, this strip is the start of Snoopy's World Famous Author persona. While Snoopy would experience some changes from this point in the strip's history, one thing would remain the same: starting his story with "It was a dark and stormy night." Snoopy may like to shake things up with his personas, but he does like some consistency in certain areas of his life.

9 "A Nice Christmas Story"

November 26th, 1982

Thinking that the holiday season should have an influence on Snoopy's writing, Lucy suggests that he write a nice Christmas story. Snoopy surprisingly takes her advice and begins a Christmas story. However, it starts the same as all of his stories - with a "dark and stormy night." What makes his story a Christmas one is that it is a "dark and stormy Christmas night."

It is a safe bet that this story of the World Famous Author will be the same as all the others, except it just so happens to take place on Christmas. Whatever Christmas story Snoopy is writing, it is bound to be serious thanks to his establishment of a dark and stormy night to start off his story. Snoopy may have taken Lucy's advice, but Lucy is sure to take issue with some parts of the story, as she usually does.

8 "First Printing Will Be One Copy"

October 27th, 1995

After many rejections of his work - so many rejection slips that he can wallpaper his doghouse with them - the World Famous Author finally gets a story published! There is a bit of a catch, though, to the piece of good news for Snoopy; his novel will be published, but the publisher will print only one copy. Not one hundred copies - one single copy of his novel will be made.

If the publisher actually sells that copy of his novel, then they will print another, but unless that happens, Snoopy will be stuck with only one copy. Obviously not too confident in Snoopy's book becoming a bestseller, the publisher has decided to play it safe and just pay to print one copy of his book, which cannot be a great self-esteem boost for the so-called World Famous Author.

7 "Wax Eloquent"

September 27th, 1974

Writing about his protagonist, Joe Sportscar, Snoopy writes about the character spending a big chunk of change on a car that is called Eloquent and his wife complaining about how he spends more time with the car than with her. Snoopy decides to drop some masterful level word play when he writes that all Joe Sportscar does these days is "wax Eloquent," meaning waxing his car.

However, there is a double meaning, because waxing eloquent also means to speak a lot about something. As a result, Snoopy uses a common phrase and makes it literal in the case of Joe Sportscar, his car, and his wife. Snoopy is ridiculously proud of this piece of writing, amazed by himself and his writing abilities. He cannot believe that he is capable of such fantastic writing, giving Hemingway a run for his money.

6 "Four Dogs Ago"

November 7th, 1996

A good writer has a flair for the dramatic. Snoopy attempts to continue in the tradition of crafting interesting stories from the imagination as seen in this comic strip. Writing a story of a broken relationship, Snoopy describes how his character loved her partner's dog more than him and that she did love him at one point... four dogs ago. It does not take a veterinarian to assume that four dogs ago was a really long time ago for this made-up couple.

There is the saying that one should write what one knows, and Snoopy uses his canine sensibilities for his stories, measuring time by dogs. One would not think that Snoopy would write a domestic drama-type story, but he is not limited by genres, going for a soap opera tilt in this new story.

5 "Cow Takers"

October 3rd, 1999

Trying his hand at the Western genre, Snoopy writes a book with the less than stellar title of "The Lonesome Horse Person." Writing about how his cowboy protagonist sees a bunch of "cow takers," Lucy is confused about what his made-up term means. Explaining that a cow taker is someone who kidnaps other people's cows, Snoopy does not help his case with proving his writing skills.

Lucy has officially had it with Snoopy's ridiculous writing style and quits reading the story. It is too bad for her, because the story was just getting to the good part where its hero becomes circled by robins. Vultures are apparently not good enough for Snoopy's story, so robins have been used instead, although to a much less intimidating degree. Showing how Snoopy's mind works, he chooses to write what he feels like rather than what would make actual sense.

4 "The Story Turned to Boring"

February 26th, 1996

Despite gifting himself the moniker of World Famous Author, Snoopy struggles greatly to write a majority of the time. All great authors struggle with writing, writer's block, and starting over when a project is not working. Snoopy similarly feels this sense of writer's block in this comic.

Writing on his classic typewriter about the change in weather in his fictional setting, Snoopy realizes that his story has changed too, but for the worse, as it has become boring. Creating something boring is worse than making something flat out bad, something Snoopy recognizes when he tosses out his boring story. Usually, it takes Lucy's brutal honesty for Snoopy to see fault with his writing, but it is good to see the beagle have the ability to critically review his work from time to time, even if it is rare.

3 "Helen Sweetstory"

February 24th, 1972

An in-universe element of Peanuts, the Bunny Wunny books that are Snoopy's favorites are written by Helen Sweetstory. Since the Bunny Wunny series is Snoopy’s favorite, he is very fond of Helen Sweetstory - to the point that he writes letters to her and asks if he can write her biography. What follows after his visit with Helen Sweetstory is Snoopy attempting to write her biography.

Charlie Brown is so happy to see Snoopy back from his trip to see Helen Sweetstory that he asks him a lot of questions immediately. Snoopy, overwhelmed by all the questions, thinks that in order to get any writing done with Charlie Brown there, he may need to rent out a studio like an acclaimed author would. As it turns out, Helen Sweetstory never gave her approval for Snoopy to write her biography, so Snoopy abandons the project when Charlie Brown finds out that the biography would be unauthorized.

2 "I Couldn't Care Less"

June 15th, 1974

Snoopy, as his World Famous Author persona, decides to write an anti-cat series that follows a lazy and stupid cat with an inferiority complex named Kitten Kaboodle. It is no secret that Snoopy loathes cats, with the Cat Next Door being his enemy and frequent adversary. Consequently, it is also no mystery as to who is the inspiration behind Snoopy's Kitten Kaboodle character.

Linus has been talking to the Cat Next Door, who tells him that if he ever finds out who has been writing the anti-cat stories, he is going to jam their typewriter down their throat. Snoopy, as much as he likes to act like Mr. Tough Guy, is scared off and throws his typewriter at Linus. He does not want any sort of heat from the Cat Next Door, instead preferring Linus to take the fall.

1 "I Tie All of This Together"

November 16th, 1969

Snoopy writes a new story, starting with his usual opening line about a specific kind of night. However, the rest of the story takes multiple twists and turns. He writes about a murder mystery complete with screaming maid, pirates, a wealthy king in a starving kingdom, and a coming of age tale of a farm boy in Kansas are all plot points in the same story.

Not caring to go into any bit of detail in any of these wild story threads, Snoopy explains that he is going to somehow tie together all the opposing storylines in Part 2. The World Famous Author may have bitten off more than he can chew with his new work, with so many different intersecting plots and characters. One thing is for certain: Snoopy is at no loss for ideas in this Peanuts strip.

Peanuts

Created by

Charles M. Schulz

First Film

The Peanuts Movie

Cast

Christopher Shea, Kathy Steinberg, Bill Melendez, Sally Dryer, Peter Robbins, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Lisa DeFaria, Venus Omega Schultheis

TV Show(s)

The Snoopy Show, Peanuts by Schulz

Movie(s)

The Peanuts Movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown's All Stars!, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

Character(s)

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Sally Brown, Pig-Pen, Marcie (Peanuts), Peppermint Patty, Woodstock

Created by Charles M. Schulz, Peanuts is a multimedia franchise that began as a comic strip in the 1950s and eventually expanded to include films and a television series. Peanuts follows the daily adventures of the Peanuts gang, with Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy at the center of them. Aside from the film released in 2015, the franchise also has several Holiday specials that air regularly on U.S. Television during their appropriate seasons.

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